ARTICLE

An improved Q-tomography method for estimation of seismic attenuation through non-linear inversion

HONGXU WANG1 ZIQI JIN2 DEGUANG TIAN1 WEI XU1 YUSONG TAN3
Show Less
Research Institute of Exploration and Development of Daqing Oilfield Company Ltd., Kexue Road, Daqing 163712, P.R. China. 254605038@qq.com,
China University of Petroleum-Beijing, 18 Fuxue Road, Changping, Beijing 102249, P.R. China. 13945920057@126.com,
CNPC Well Logging Company Ltd., Yanshan Road, Renqiu 062552, P.R. China. 414022746@qq.com,
JSE 2017, 26(2), 17–28;
Submitted: 9 June 2025 | Revised: 9 June 2025 | Accepted: 9 June 2025 | Published: 9 June 2025
© 2025 by the Authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

Wang, H., Jin, Z., Deguang, T., Xu, W. and Tan, Y., 2017. An improved Q-tomography method for estimation of seismic attenuation through non-linear inversion. Journal of Seismic Exploration, 26: 171-182. Due to the viscous-elastic properties of subsurface media, seismic waves experience a loss of amplitude and distortion of phase during propagation. Various methods have been designed to compensate for this attenuation (Q-values) to achieve a high seismic resolution. Traveltime attenuation tomography is an efficient method for estimation of the Q-distribution using inversion. The method updates an initial Q-guess to the true Q-distribution. The Q-update amount is associated with the difference between the simulated traveltime attenuation (SAT) response of the model data and the recorded traveltime attenuation (RAT) of field data. The inversion system is a non-linear process that considers the case in which the travel time of the seismic wave depends on the Q-value to be estimated. Therefore, it is reasonable to calculate the Q-value using the non-linear inversion technique. The accuracy of RAT is essential for Q-tomography. Minute errors in the attenuation of the traveltime can cause unreasonable Q-inversion results. A stabilized method is designed to improve the accuracy of RAT by statistically selecting the optimum frequency band for regression and excluding unreasonable results. Synthetic and field data examples demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this method for Q-estimation. Using a more accurate Q-distribution, seismic resolution can be improved after Q-compensation migration.

Keywords
Q-
tomography
attenuation
non-linear inversion
ray tracing
References
  1. Brzostowski, M.A. and McMechan, G.A., 1992. 3-D tomographic imaging of near-surface seismic
  2. velocity and attenuation. Geophysics, 57: 396-403.
  3. Cao, H., 2010. Reflection attenuation tomography: a field example. Expanded Abstr., 80th Ann
  4. Internat. SEG Mtg., Denver: 2815-2819.
  5. He, Y. and Cai, J., 2012. Q-tomography towards true amplitude image and improve sub-karst
  6. image. Expanded Abstr., 82nd Ann. Internat. SEG Mtg., Las Vegas: 1-5.
  7. He, Y., Xin, K. and Xie, Y., 2014. Tomographic inversion for background Q-estimation using
  8. adaptively corrected centroid frequency shift. Expanded Abstr., Internat. Geophys. Conf..
  9. Beijing: 651-655.
  10. Hu, W., Liu, J., Bear, L. and Marcinkovich, C., 201]. A robust and accurate seismic attenuation
  11. tomography algorithm. Expanded Abstr., 81st Ann. Internat. SEG Mtg., San Antonio:
  12. 2727-2731.
  13. Liao, Q. and McMechan, G.A., 1997. Tomographic imaging of velocity and Q, with application to
  14. crosswell seismic data from the Gypsy 有 Site, Rebates Geophysics. 62: 1804-1811.
  15. ee - os mo
Share
Back to top
Journal of Seismic Exploration, Electronic ISSN: 0963-0651 Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing